admin Heart Roberts, 23, got his vertical eyebrow piercing in the spring. The New York-based designer says the idea came about after his hand got caught in a sewing machine. “The pain was so excruciating that I thought, if I could take that, I could take anything,” he laughs. “I also loved the look of the eyebrow piercing. Having metal in your face is, like, such a cool concept to me.”
Roberts was inspired by gritty fashion editorials from the late ’90s and early 2000s. “It was such a big thing back then, getting pierced,” he says. “It was a big part of punk and grunge culture. I do classify myself as having a punk aesthetic. A lot of people are gravitating towards rock nowadays.”
He points to Doja Cat performing a nu metal version of her disco smash “Say So” at the MTV European Music Awards a few years ago, Playboi Carti stuffing “Whole Lotta Red” with punk and metal aesthetics, and Lil Uzi Vert covering System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!” on this year’s Pink Tape. Grimes, Demi Lovato, and 100 gecs have also recently incorporated nu metal elements into their sound in various ways.
Roberts says the aggro vibes of the mid-aughts resonate with his generation because they reflect the tumultuous state of the world. “I think a lot of people are in a darker time,” he says. “You know, the economy is shit, everyone’s kind of at war, and a lot of people feel like they have to fight. Hustle culture is giving people a dark feeling. There’s like a dark renaissance happening, where a lot of people are gravitating towards the dark aesthetic because not everything is peaches and cream right now.” His eyebrow piercing is more than just a personal statement; it’s an outward expression of the many challenges characterizing contemporary existence (i.e. Everything is fucked, everybody sucks).
Of course, there’s also just the plain, stupidly obvious fact that eyebrow piercings look hot on dudes, and more people are recognizing this. It takes a certain amount of self-assuredness to rock one. In the end, it can add just the right amount of bold, break-the-ranks energy to a guy’s look.
“When you see someone with an eyebrow ring, you’re like, ‘Oooh bad ass,’” says Lee. “If you have a really pretty face and it complements it, you’re like ‘Oooh, they’re pretty and they have a facial hair piercing? Damn.’ It really takes a lot of balls and confidence. It’s such a statement.”
